1966 NL April update: Dodger pitching too much for opponents

As I noted last week, I finally reached the end of April in my 1966 NL APBA baseball replay.  Relatively speaking, it’s been slow going but I consider this a nice milestone.

Here’s a quick rundown of the parameters of my replay:

• I’m using APBA Basic Baseball (new booklet) no modifications
• 1966 reprint season with XC cards
• Full 162-game schedule
• Actual lineups, rotations and transactions

All in all it’s been a fun season so far.  The ‘66 season definitely leans towards pitching but I like that.  At the same time, it has its share of big boppers and players with speed.  It gives the APBA manager a good chance to manage a little.

This is the first time I’ve done a replay with actual lineups and rotations.  As I said before, it’s a learning experience both in doing the replay and in how baseball teams are run.  I’ve found it interesting how some teams like Los Angeles have a set lineup and stick to it.  On the other hand, teams like Chicago seem to be floundering, trying to find their next hot prospect (frustrating as a Cubs fan!).

Have the stats been realistic so far?  With some exceptions, yes.  LA is in first and the Cubs are in last place.  Koufax, Bunning, Jim Maloney are pitching great.  Mays, Clemente, and Allen are all over the leaderboards.

There are some interesting results, too.  Pittsburgh 3B Bob Bailey is hands down the best of the best.  I’ve somehow convinced Cardinal second baseman Julian Javier that he is a slugger.  He’s second in the league with five homers in April (he hit 7 in 496 PA in real life).  On the other end, Billy Williams has the third worst batting average in the league with a .111 mark.  All things considered, it would be boring if my replay would completely and totally replicate real life stats.  The probability factor kicks in and it’s fun to see who is doing well (or poorly) despite what they should really do.

I should thank my buddy John Brandeberry for helping me play at least 20% of these games.  Those were the most fun.

Below are highlights for each team for the month of April.  These highlights plus complete standings and leaderboards can be viewed here.

Team by Team highlights for April

Los Angeles Dodgers

14-4

By mid-April, LA took first place, and have never looked back. As highlighted by Sandy Koufax’ 1-0 no-hitter on the last day of the month, the Dodgers did it with their pitching not hitting. They have a 2.35 team ERA, way ahead of second place Houston’s 3.13. Koufax (3-0) is getting the headlines with a league leading 48 strikeouts but Don Sutton has proved to be a valuable member of the rotation going 4-0 with 32 Ks (second in the NL). Don Drysdale (3-0, 2.67) and Claude Osteen (a hard luck 1-3 with a 2.37 ERA) are more than capable in the back of the rotation.

Offensively, LA has done ok, too. Maury Wills finally came out of his nasty slump and is batting above the Mendoza line at .233 with 4 stolen bases. Part-timer Al Ferrara proves you don’t need to be in the lineup every day to make a difference. He’s 11 for 21 with four homers. Ron Fairly and Jim Lefebvre have both also contributed four dingers for the month of April.

Interesting note: The Dodgers have used only 20 players so far this season including pitchers. It seems that they have stuck with a pretty consistent lineup. Contrast that with the last place Cubs who have used 31 players (granted they had a two-player trade). Coincidence?

Los Angeles April MVP (Tie)

Sandy Koufax 5 GS, 43 IP, 3-1, 1.88 ERA, 48 K, 10 BB

Don Sutton 4 GS, 30 IP, 4-0, 2.70 ERA, 32 K, 3 BB

Pittsburgh Pirates

9-6

The Pirates are a hard hitting team with enough pitching to carry them. Roberto Clemente (4 HR, .292), Willie Stargell (.280, 12 rbis) and Donn Clendenon (.321, 12 runs) got off to hot starts but when they tailed off it was all Bob Bailey. Batting sixth in the lineup, thirdbaseman Bailey hit for average, power and got on base. For the month of April, he leads the NL in batting average (.474), slugging (.877) and OBP (.531) and comes in second in rbis (16), homeruns (5) and hits (27).

Steve Blass has been a pleasant surprise in the rotation for the Pirates. He’s 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA. On the other hand, Bob Veale has had some hard luck going 0-3 yet striking out 28 batters in 30 innings with a 4.20 ERA.

Pittsburgh April MVP

Bob Bailey .474, 5 HR, 16 rbis, 14 runs, 6 2B

Houston Astros

10-8

Like the Dodgers, Houston gets the job done with their arms. First and foremost, it’s Larry Dierker (B) who currently claims the ERA lead with a neat 1.00 mark. Not only that, he’s only allowed 12 hits and 3 walks in 27 innings. He’s got a 3-0 record for his work. Veteran Robin Roberts (DZ) is doing a surprisingly great job with a 2.90 ERA and a 3-0 ERA and just 4 walks in 31 innings.

Batting .207 as a team, hitting hasn’t been the Astros’ big strength. However, Jim “Toy Cannon” Wynn has come on in late April. He’s tied for second with 5 homers and has 15 rbis. Number 2 hitter Sonny Jackson is batting .301 and leads the team with 11 runs and 22 hits. It took a week or so for Houston management to figure out that Joe Morgan belonged in the leadoff role. It’s paid off as he leads the NL in walks with 13.

I honestly don’t expect Houston to keep this up. Robin Roberts can’t keep pitching like an A. Even Dierker, will eventually have his moments.

Houston April MVP

Larry Dierker 3 GS, 27 IP, 3-0, 1.00 ERA, 14 K, 3 BB

Atlanta Braves

9-9

I had hopes of seeing real life homerun leader and rbi champ Hank Aaron hitting like crazy but he had an “okay” April. He’s just batting .240 for the month with 3 homers. Yet, at the same time, he leads the NL in runs with 17 and has collected 12 rbis. The Hammer can probably thank catcher Joe Torre for some of those runs scored. Torre is batting .344 with 13 ribbies. Carty flirted with .400 for most of the month until a slump towards the end of the month brought him down to .308.

Ken Johnson has been a hard luck starter for Atlanta. He’s been in the top ten in ERA for most of the month and finished with a 2.38 ERA yet has a 1-2 record. On the other hand, Tony Cloninger has been a workhorse collecting innings (32 2/3) and walks (21, tops in the league). He’s 3-1 so far. Reliever Clay Carroll (one of two A*s in the pen) is a rare reliever with 3 wins.

Atlanta April MVP

Joe Torre .344, 13 rbis

San Francisco Giants

9-9

Up and down the lineup, the Giants have the best hitting in the league. As a team, they lead my replay in hitting (.288), runs scored (87) and homers (24). Bopper Willie Mays currently leads the league in homers with 6 followed closely by teammates Willie McCovey and Jimmie Ray Hart who both have 4. Jay Alou (.400) and Orlando Cepeda (.429) are contributing to the Giant hit parade. Don’t get too comfortable with Baby Bull, San Francisco. You’ll be trading him to the Cardinals soon.

The Giants have Juan Marichal, of course and he’s performing as he should. He’s got a nifty 1.85 ERA with a 3-1 record and two shutouts. Other than that though, the Giant pitching staff is a little thin. Gaylord Perry has struggled 7.29 ERA in two starts and Bobby Bolin has just one win despite a 3.93 ERA.

San Francisco April MVP

Willie Mays .273, 6 HR, 14 rbis, 15 runs, .606 SLG

Cincinnati Reds

7-7

The Reds are an interesting team to replay. They have some big stars who are in their early years. They’re still a good hitting team with solid pitching and I always over estimate them. As it turned out, in real life, they didn’t have a winning record.

Tommy Harper is hitting .360 for the month and is the only hitter with 10 or more runs. His 3 steals are the only ones on the team. No Red is in double digits in rbis. The top Reds hitters in that category are Rose and Deron Johnson with 8.

Jim Maloney is top dog from the rotation. In three starts, he’s gone 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA. Fellow starter Sammy Ellis might want to room with Jim and pick up some tips, though. He’s lost all four of his starts giving up 28 runs in 18 innings pitched. His 13.50 ERA is the highest in the league among qualifiers.

Cincinnati April MVP

Jim Maloney 3 GS, 25 IP, 2-0, 1.80 ERA, 23 K

Philadelphia Phillies

6-7

The Phils haven’t lived up to their real life fourth place finish… yet. Richie Allen has done all he can to bolster the offense by batting .340 with 4 homers and a league leading 17 rbis. He also paces the team in runs with 10.  Scrappy infielder Tony Taylor is second in the NL in hitting with a .429 average as well.

Jim Bunning is the big star among the pitchers. He’s tied for the league lead in wins with a 4-0 record, third in strikeouts with 31, and has a 3.09 ERA.

Philadelphia April MVP (tie)

Richie Allen .340, 4 HR, 17 rbis, .660 SLG

Jim Bunning 4 GS, 35 IP, 3.09, 4-0, 31 K, 9 BB

New York Mets

5-6

Between you and me, the New York Mets are my hope that the Cubs won’t finish in last place. So far though, they have held their own. Their stats are bit off though because they have missed so many games. I’m assuming it’s due to the bad weather in New York in 1966. Ed Kranepool (.325, 2 HR, 7 rbis) and Ron Hunt (.357, 9 runs, 8 walks) lead the crew.

Starter “Fat Jack” Fisher is the only 2 game winner on the staff with a 4.50 ERA.

New York April MVP

Ed Kranepool .325, 2 HR, 7 rbi, .550 SLG

St. Louis Cardinals

5-11

The Cardinals is one team I just can’t figure out in my replay. They have Lou Brock and Tim McCarver who both batted over .400 until the last series of the month. Brock also leads the NL in stolen bases with 9 and is tied for sixth in homers with four. Thirdbaseman Charley Smith is batting .322 with 11 rbis. If that wasn’t enough, I’ve been lucky with the dice with Julian Javier was tied for the lead in homers with five until the last day of the month.

And of course one day out of four, Bob Gibson comes trotting out to the mound. So far, he’s 2-1 in three starts with a 2.45 ERA. Larry Jaster has done fine from the mound as well with a 2.61 mark but he just has a 1-1 record to show for it.

With all those fun stats, you would think the Cardinals would be higher than ninth place. If there was any finger pointing to be done, that finger would point right at the bullpen. Closer Joe Hoerner (5.79 ERA) and setup man Hal Woodeshick (5.19) are a combined 0-4. It also doesn’t help that till this point, the Cardinals have been wedded to firstbaseman George Kernek and his slugging percentage of .240. That will soon change. No doubt, with the upcoming acquisition of Orlando Cepeda, St. Louis is ready to make a move.

St. Louis April MVP

Lou Brock .391, 13 runs, 4 HR 9 SB

Chicago Cubs

4-11

I stated at the beginning of this replay that I wanted to see if the Cubs could avoid losing 100 games. They lost 103 in real life. Looking at their team, I didn’t think they were that bad but so far they haven’t shown me they can do any better. At this point, they on track to lose 119 games.

Let’s start with the highlights, though.  Ernie Banks has 3 dingers so far but Ron Santo has been the driving force of what little offense there is (.225 team batting average, second lowest). Santo, batting .333, leads the league in OBP with a .463 mark and is second in walks with 12. He paces the Cubs with 10 rbis while hitting only one homer. Don Kessinger has been a nice surprise hitting .311 and scoring 7 runs. Adolfo Phillips hit the ground running after getting traded from Philadelphia. Overall, he’s hitting .364 with six steals.

It’s about time for Billy Williams to get things going. Through April, he’s hitting .111, third worst among qualifiers.

Pitching has been a sore spot with the Northsiders.  With a sky-high 6.11 ERA, they are last in the NL. Bill “Froggy” Hands (9.00 ERA in 16 IP), Ernie Broglio (10.38 ERA in 17 1/3 IP) and reliever Cal Koonce (6.75 ERA in 12 IP) aren’t helping matters any. Neither are Holtzman (9.31) or Bill Faul (6.89).

Dick Ellsworth is the bright spot on the Cubs’ pitching staff. He’s a DZ who is pitching like an A. He has a 2.89 ERA and has only allowed two walks in 18 2/3 innings. How many wins does he have? Zero.

Wrigley fans are already questioning the big trade that sent a pitcher who was doing fairly well (Al Jackson with a 3.46 ERA) and a hot hitting veteran Harvey Kuenn to Philadelphia. All for some nobody spot starter named “Ferguson” Jenkins.

Chicago April MVP

Ron Santo .333, .463 OBP, 12 BB